TN Translator Notes

Sometimes a translator needs to address the reader about his translation. It could be a technical explanation of the translating approach, explanation of acronyms, etc. We can do this by using a translator note, TN.

TNs are marked by bolding the terms, using [square brackets] and numbering when a footnote is required. Like this example from Elisa Pinto Olivera:

Which is addressed by a NT footnote, marked like this:

Writing NTs is one of the technical skills needed by translators. NTs shouldn't' be overused, neither under-used, but should always be clearly marked as translators' notes. Notice how Elisa Pinto Olivera has included an explanation of how she annotates her NTs at the beginning of her translation.

Some ethical issues may arise from the fact that we can find a document like this one online!
You can write your thoughts in this post's comments.


Not all translators follow the same style of TN, have a look at this slightly different method.